Reexamining Boko Haram’s Past, Present, and Future

Next in the GTTAC Speaker Series: Dr. Jacob Zenn returns to speak on Boko Haram’s past, present, and future and their relationships with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Jacob Zenn is an adjunct professor on African Armed Movements and Violent Non-State Actors in World Politics at the Georgetown University Security Studies Program (SSP) and a fellow on African and Eurasian Affairs for The Jamestown Foundation in Washington DC. He wrote the book, Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria, which was published in April 2020 by Lynne Rienner in association with the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews. Zenn has also written on international law and security for Jamestown’s Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor, Militant Leadership Monitor, and Eurasia Daily Monitor; Jane’s Intelligence Review-China Watch; the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst; and for academic journals such as Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Journal of the Middle East and Africa, The Journal of Modern African Studies, African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, Journal for De-Radicalization, African Security, and the International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law. He has also drafted several reports and monographs on Boko Haram, including editing a multi-authored report for the West Point Combating Terrorism Center in May 2018 called ”Boko Haram Beyond the Headlines: Analyses of Africa’s Enduring Insurgency.” For his most recent academic work, see Jacob Zenn (2022): Boko Haram’s Beginnings: Guantánamo Detainee Assessment Revelations on Diaspora Nigerian Jihadists in Saudi Arabia, Journal of the Middle East and Africa, DOI: 10.1080/21520844.2021.2023315